People in Delhi and National Capital Region continued setting alight crackers the day after Diwali on Thursday, sparing little concern for a top court order as well as the air they breathe. On Friday the air quality index swung down to 423 in an “improvement” from 574 the day before. Both the numbers mean the air is ‘severely’ bad. And it is likely to stay as such affairs till aturday, according to forecasts.     

 

Late last month, the Supreme Court had restricted bursting of crackers to a two-hour window between 8 pm and 10 pm on the day of Diwali. But Delhiites violated the order, as did surrounding Noida, Ghaziabad and Greater Noida. At the same time, Twitter was full of people grousing about the terrible air and the trangressions. 

 

SAFAR, or System of Air Quality and Weather Forecasting And Research, an initiative under the Ministry of Earth Sciences, siad the air quality would continue to be ‘severe’ until Saturday, as smoke from fireworks lingers in the air. Farmers burning paddy and wheat stubble on their fields in neighbouring states would only aggravate the quality of air in the city, the research said.